reflexology and green tangerines

I ate a real "green tangerine" today. It was great! Sorry but it was eaten before we could get a picture.
I also want to share about the reflexology I recieved this week. It was quite an experience. I have been recieving a Chinese massage every 1-2 weeks for the past several weeks. Patrick has come to our apartment, driven by his wife, Nancy, because he is blind. He gives the massage with me fully clothed while I am laying on our bed. He uses a cloth that he puts over the spot he is massaging and it seemed to work very well. The massages were very deep and intense, focusing on my sore neck and shoulder. The pain was not improving so I decided to skip a week to see what happened. Consequently, the pain lessened and I decided the deep massage was too deep and I am better off without it. The last visit he made I asked him to do reflexology which he is also trained in. I had recieved this therapy once in Springfield and it was very enjoyable and relaxing. Patrick took the same approach with my feet as he did with my neck and shoulder. He found a sore spot on my instep that I didn't realize was sore and went for it for quite awhile. He repeated this on the other foot. He said it was representative of my mid back which was beginning to hurt as he worked. He ended the therapy by whipping my legs one at a time like you would with a cloth dishcloth to snap someone. I am not sure if I liked that or not, was a very different experience. He apparently is a very strong man. My conclusion is that Chinese massage is not for sissys. He would have given the swedish type massage if I preferred because he also had been taught to do that. It was fun to have the Chinese experience at least for a time!
I had 2 skirts made out of silk material that I bought with the help of Pat's Chinese friend. James and I went to a different shopping area that also sells material, plants, animals, furniture, and clothing to find a seamstress. By using sign language, a lady directed us to a young man who was in a small store with bolts of material. I showed him the material, the elastic I had purchased for the waist band, and a picture of a skirt. A Chinese lady who speaks some English appeared and translated what I wanted to him. It cost 60 yuan which is about $5 each and if I liked them he would give 10 yuan back when I picked them up! I picked them up this week and they turned out great. I didn't ask for the 10 yuan back.
James and I were able to use some of our newly used Mandarin in the market today and felt pretty proud of ourselves. The sellers of fruits and vegetables appeared pleased with us also and actually understood our pronounciations! Progress is being made which is good to know to prevent discouragement which tries to creep in occassionally!